Parents views must be “central” to the Government’s planned National Convention on Education, according to a leading figure in Catholic education.

Alan Hynes, CEO of the Catholic Education Partnership (CEP) spoke after the Minister for Education, Helen McEntee, announced a new national conversation on education. Both the Irish Constitution and the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognise the parents as the primary educators of their children.

He told The Irish Catholic that while the Government’s press release mentioned parents among other education stake-holders, “in the video the minister put on social media there was no mention of parents”.

“Parents ought to be central to this national conversation alongside the voices of young people,” he said, “I would take it that the Minister made a slip in not mentioning them in the video, but it is important that slip is not made again.”

“Parents are the only stakeholder specifically mentioned in the Constitution as having a priority regarding the education of their children. The Constitutional position of parents needs to be respected throughout this process,” Mr Hynes said.